To Receive The King
Martin Exeter May 4, 1986
The world is enfolded in the atmosphere of Home by reason of the Spirit of Home which we know. This is the Climate of the Garden. There are some other words that might be used also: the Kingdom of Heaven. The invitation that has been extended is to receive the Kingdom of Heaven. It is not suggested that anyone should try to get it for themselves, or try to build it somehow. Both these attempts are futile anyway, simply because the Kingdom of Heaven—the Garden, the true Home—already exists and already is at hand. All that is necessary is to receive it. The invitation that has been offered to us, and which is offered by us to others, is to receive the Kingdom of Heaven. It has long been at hand, waiting to be received.
One cannot receive it without receiving the King of the Kingdom. It is not really possible to receive the King of the Kingdom without first receiving he that comes in His name. This was rather plainly stated in one of the Gospels: “Ye shall not see me henceforth, til ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” As we well know, He came some considerable time ago and was rejected. In spite of all the protestations of Christianity, He has not yet been received, because He can only be received through the one who comes in the name of the Lord. “Ye shall not see me henceforth, til ye shall say, Blessed is he,” acceptable is he, “who comes in the name of the Lord.” I am come in the name of my King—so is it also for you. The one who comes in the name of the Lord must be received if the King is to be known.
The King is known on earth through His body of incarnation. This body is composed from all of you, and others as well. Only as the character and the quality of the King is the consistent expression in living of those who compose His body is He factually present, incarnate on earth, capable of being known that way. But the body puts in an appearance only by reason of the fact that those who compose it have the attitude, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” so that the character and the quality of the King is accepted on this basis. This character is steadfast. To be aware of the fact of steadfastness seemingly requires a certain length of time, and so a certain length of time has been provided. Nothing impossible is expected of anyone. The provision is always adequately made. This is portrayed by the words, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And so, as there are those who in fact are saying, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” and are consequently receiving the spirit of the creative process into their own experience of living, the body of the King takes form and becomes available for the expression of the Spirit of the King on earth. All human beings on the face of the earth have received the invitation to receive the King. Few have been willing to do so, because it is impossible to receive the King without first receiving the One who comes in His name. On this basis the body forms. This is the body of the King, designed by Him to allow for the essential creative expression of His Spirit on earth.
These words are spoken to those who are in position to receive them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost—the Spirit of Truth—into the expression of your momentary living. The evidence of this expression is steadfastness. It is Love. There is meekness and gentleness, but there is authority. Nothing is ever imposed. Those who have felt that they were somehow being imposed upon have been imposing their own concepts upon themselves, for the King is not a king of imposition. If He had been, do you think that we would still be present here, or that mankind would still exist on the face of the earth? It is obvious that there has been a freedom for human beings to do as they please. Of course there is something that comes with that; they must also receive the results of doing as they please. But that is not an imposition, as some have tried to make it seem: “Why does God do all this to us?” He doesn't! As human beings we do it to ourselves. We behave the way we do and we reap the consequences, individually and collectively.
Clearly, a change of experience is most necessary. We have, some of us over many, many years, been sharing that changed experience, at times perhaps rather reluctantly. But for those whose hearts are open and yielded to receive the one who comes in the name of the Lord, there was no other way to go. That may sometimes have seemed like an imposition. But we found that we couldn't help ourselves from moving in the way that was offered, that we were invited to share. So there are those who have had this experience, and no doubt there will be more. There are others who have resisted it and been uncomfortable in consequence, and found reasons for judgment and condemnation, which is the usual human way. As the body of the King takes form and the Spirit of the King finds increasing clarity of expression through that body, there is the evidence of authority and the power of Love. Love is a drawing power. It draws all hearts that are willing to yield to it. It draws human beings the world around toward the place where they may come into position to receive the King.
This power of Love, also, is the power which in the creative processes dissolves human nature. Those who cling to their human nature find themselves being dissolved, and it becomes increasingly uncomfortable. It is very clear that the world is in a very uncomfortable state, simply because this is happening. If we are aware of why it is happening and of our own part in permitting the happening to occur, then surely, on the basis of any integrity that may be present, one cannot help oneself from doing what is needful, whether it promotes one's own human ego or not. Of course it doesn't, because that is what is passing away, that is what is being dissolved. The King has all power in heaven and on earth, and what needs to happen in the creative process will happen. No human being can stop it—no great numbers of human beings can stop it.
So we share in the process, because it is the coming of the Kingdom. “Thy kingdom come.” The attitude is one, then, of receiving it. “Thy will be done”—certainly not my will as a human being, certainly not what I want as a human being— probably not what I even expect! Let it be the will of the King. The will of the King is characterized by the creative process. Yield to the creative process. This is the Word of the King through His body, but His body necessarily must be the instrument which speaks that Word. It might be said that this has been the word of the King always, but there has been no means of speaking it in a collective sense within the body of mankind. There was a means of speaking it through one individual long ago, and that Word was spoken, so there is a precedent in that sense; but now for what occurs through this body of the King there is no precedent other than the individual one.
All power in heaven and on earth is in the hands of the King—and finally the intransigent human character is being brought to point. I suppose it could be said, “Yield or else.” Is that an imposition? No, it's merely the end result of human behavior. If human beings had not behaved the way they have, this end result wouldn't have come; but because of that it's coming—in fact it's here. So we share an understanding of the reason for the presence of the body of the King, and we have an awareness, to whatever extent in our own living, of the quality and character of the Spirit of the King in expression through His body. Before that light the shadows flee away. The shadows are what characterize human nature. One either flees away with the shadows or one is willing to let them go. If there is a willingness to let them go, the kingdom is received and the King comes into His body to live, to move, to have His being on earth.
The world of mankind is looked upon as being real, when in fact it is a fantasy. The world of the King is looked upon as being unreal, fantastic, when in fact it is the reality. “Choose ye this day” is being said to the whole body of mankind: Will you live in the fantasy or in the reality? It might also be said that each brings its own reward. But there is no other choice; there is nowhere else to go. If you fall between two stools, it comes to the same thing as refusing to accept the Kingdom and the King into His world. “The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” If those who dwell in the earth refuse to receive the King, they are immediately superfluous; and while a considerable length of time—I don't think any human consciousness is able to measure it—has been provided for the children of men to repent, thus far they have not done so. Now the end comes, the ultimate result of human intransigence and the insistence upon existing within the state of human nature.
We rejoice this day, in this company assembled in many places on earth, to acknowledge the King and to receive His character into our own living, that we may live, amongst other things, that we may live and not find ourselves superfluous. Generation after generation human beings have insisted upon being superfluous. We are not concerned with what may or may not happen to our physical forms, but we are concerned to let our physical forms, while life yet remains, be the vehicle for the Life of the King. On this basis His Body forms. According to the story, there was the experience of resurrection insofar as His body was concerned before. That may be seen as a precedent, related to one individual. But the Body of the King is not one individual; the Body of the King is, rightly, Man restored. So we share in understanding the way the creative process works, and let ourselves be aligned with it, participating in the forming of the Body of the King on earth through which His Kingdom may come.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
The Glory and the Pathos
from Glory to God in the Highest
Uranda June 26, 1953 Class
Gradually the pattern is unfolding so that you can begin to perceive with the eye of your heart the beautiful reality of the Divine Design, and seeing it, you begin to relax into it. You can, on the basis of faith—not seeing clearly—when there is trust, begin to let control have meaning, but the fulness of control in the reality of Truth appears when you have begun to see for yourself the beauty of the Divine Design. Until you do begin to see for yourself, there tends to be a feeling that you are going to lose something. When we enter into the glorious liberty of the children of God as living souls, we find that we have the privilege of living in the Kingdom that is at hand. And so you are beginning to see the beauty of the Divine Design. In season all things are made clear. But you must learn to see for yourself, and you are learning to see with the eye of the heart, with the guardian angel of the conscious mind at work in you.
I would like to direct your attention to one of the outstanding keys to a realization of reality that can be found in Holy Writ anywhere, which has from the standpoint of its true purpose and meaning been virtually ignored. As long as we ignore the keys, we cannot use them to unlock the doors and let the things of God come in. You let the Master in, and when He comes in He begins to prepare a place for you—a mansion of soul, in which the things of heaven are present and made manifest. This particular key was given to man at the time our Master's body was born on earth in the form of a babe. There were many remarkable revelations of the reality of Shekinah at the time of the Master's birth, but the central key is the Angels' Song: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Let us look at this expression from the standpoint of reality, with the eye of the heart. “Glory to God in the highest.” What is the Glory? The Shekinah Cloud of Glory. Glory to God in the highest. That carries to the Highest Focalization of Deity, going beyond the range of human consciousness or awareness. Glory to God in the Highest. And the expression was made in relationship to those who dwell on earth.
So if there was a recognition of Glory to God in the Highest, we see with the eye of the heart how there was a Great Cone allowed to settle down over the earth, the base of it enfolding the earth as in a net, and the point of it extending upward to God in the Highest. And what is it that shapes this? What is it that gives it form? Glory—the Shekinah Cloud of Glory. And it was brought to the earth, enfolding man, centered on earth in the babe that was born. Glory to God in the highest, signifies that the Cloud of Glory, made manifest to man through the form of the babe that was to become a Man, extended to God in the Highest—that there was no break, no point of separation, no veil, except the inability of human beings to see. The Cloud of Glory, the Shekinah, extended to the earth, enfolding the earth and carrying to God in the Highest. Glory all the way. The Shekinah Cloud of Glory here, and all the Way to God in the Highest. And then, when that is a reality, what does follow? “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth”—enfolded in the Shekinah Glory something begins to manifest. “Peace on earth, good will toward men.” The coming of the Master was the Supreme Gesture from God, the zenith of God's Gift of Love to man—and only in relationship to Love can there be peace—and it is clearly indicated it was on earth, and the Supreme Gesture of goodwill.
Instead of seeing God as an avenging God, instead of seeing God as One who had somehow conceived in His own mind the idea that He would not forgive human beings until His own Son was sent into the world and slain on the cross, we see that at the time of the Master's birth the Divine Expression, the Angels' Song, conveyed to man the Supreme Gesture of Love and goodwill. What is the natural result when human beings allow themselves to be enfolded in the Shekinah Cloud of Glory that extends all the way to Highest God? First there begins to be a sense of peace—peace on earth—the result of the working of God's Love within the Shekinah Cloud of Glory. And then goodwill. Goodwill from God in the Highest, through the Shekinah, to all the children of men. Goodwill—the willingness to let all differences be past, to let all wrongs be as if they had not been. This is not the message of a bloodthirsty God through His avenging angels, to the cringing cowards dwelling on earth. This is the message of a God of Love, who does not require any blood sacrifice. This is the message of Highest God to the children of men through the Shekinah Cloud of Glory made manifest on earth and centered on earth in the body of a babe. Peace on earth.
And the Angels sang the Song even though there was no room in the inn for Him, no bed available to Mary; the Angels sang the Song even though they had to move the ox from the stalls and put in a little fresh hay in the manger to make a place for the birth of the babe—the lowliest place. Even though that was all that man could provide for the coming of the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings, there was still the Angels' Song, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” No judgment, no condemnation, the open invitation to come and let the beauties of the Kingdom of Heaven be revealed in the lives of the children of men. In conjunction with this there were other evidences.
This Song the Angels sang was heard by the shepherds who tended their flocks—and there we have again the Pattern of the Shepherd. Human beings have attributed to God their own dastardly attitudes and conceive God to be as limited as they themselves are, and they have built their concept of religion on that basis. Instead of seeing the glorious significance of the Angels' Song, they have continued to weave the patterns of assumption and belief on the basis that prevents God's Love from being received, His Power from manifesting, His Truth from being known. And so human beings have continued to die. And it is this distortion pattern in consciousness which has kept human beings from even beginning to see what the Master was talking about when He said, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” God did not require that anyone should die at any time, under any circumstance, and least of all did He require that His Son should die. Let us remember that the Master said, before the betrayal, before the mockery of the trial, before the agony of the crucifixion, before any of that, He said, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” Jesus said, or the reality of our Lord through the lips of Jesus, before the betrayal He said, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” Once you begin to see that God did not produce the condition which would cause death, that He did not require the death of our Lord on earth, or His body—once you begin to actually see these things, the truth of the matter, you can begin to have a new attitude toward Life and toward God. In season there will be those who are willing, of their own volition, to draw near and begin to see the truth as it is. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
We begin to recognize that the Wise Men who followed the Star came to the place where the Master was born directed of the Spirit of God. And what was the Star? First we have the pattern with the shepherds—the Glory, the Shekinah Cloud of Glory. And then come the Wise Men—wisdom, the sense of the fitness of things, a function in relationship to the mind, to the Truth. And what do we see? The Wise Men following the Star. And the Star is what? The Light that Glows. The Cloud of Glory, the Light that Glows, and then the Fire of Love. And within the Fire, One like unto the Son of God. The Shekinah Pattern of Being was established in relationship to the Master's birth, and He used it all the way through His ministry. He talked about it. He revealed it over and over again.
And when He came to the point of the conclusion of His work on earth, before the pattern of the atrocity had taken form, before the betrayal, He prayed a prayer. And in this prayer we find a glorious portrayal of Shekinah: “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come.” What hour? The hour is come for what? “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.” And what happened following that? He was betrayed. He was crucified. He went through all of the ignominious experiences involved. And what happened? Human beings have assumed this is the way God glorified His Son. Because He came forth out of the tomb, that means that He had to die. Assumptions! No. How is He glorified? Not by the crucifixion on the cross. The cross of your body; you can crucify God and the things of God on the cross of your body, too. There has been enough crucifixion, and it was not required. And He said, “As thou hast given him power over all flesh.” He had power over all flesh. But who is it that is speaking the word? The man Jesus? The man Jesus was One in it, not to be separated from it, but remember that it is the Shekinah that has power over all flesh. The Shekinah Presence of the One Who Dwells has power over all flesh. And entering into the Cloud of Glory is the way by which the Father glorifies the Son. He was talking about the Shekinah Pattern of Being. And then He continued on, “I have glorified thee on the earth.” How? By letting the Shekinah Cloud of Glory have meaning, by letting the Shekinah Power manifest, by letting the Shekinah Light shine. “I have glorified thee, O Father, on earth”—the revelation of the Shekinah on earth.
And then He said, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” Now, is that a true statement or not? That is where the thing finally hinges. What do we believe? Whom do we believe? He said, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” He had some other things to face, but they were things that human beings forced upon Him. He had already completed all that God had given Him to do, before the atrocity. Seventeenth chapter of John, the Fourth Verse, if you want to read it and look at it yourself.
“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” Here we have the description of Shekinah, and it is working in relationship to heaven and earth. “I have manifested thy Shekinah unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.” But those who thought they were following Him and called themselves Christians forgot that. “All things are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me.” Specifically, “I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me … and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee.” And that is all they did know surely. The pathos in this prayer is something that must surely touch the awakened heart. He could not anywhere through it say, “My disciples have reached a point where they can carry on.” If you read it with understanding you will see that the only thing He could say that they knew surely was that He had come from God. But how it worked, what it was, the reality of Shekinah, all the rest, they did not understand. “… and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
“I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.” How? When the Shekinah Pattern of Reality works through them, the Shekinah Cloud of Glory, the Light that Glows. He said, “Let your light so shine before men”—the Light that Glows. “Love the Lord thy God”—the Shekinah Fire, the Light that Glows, the Shekinah Cloud of Glory—let these things manifest in you. He said it so many times, so many ways. “And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own Shekinah those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy Shekinah: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition.” What is lost? The son of perdition—the whole devil pattern as it works through man, the whole fallen sphere—the son of perdition in any generation. Every human being who defies God and refuses to let God's will be done is a member of the body of the son of perdition. And the son of perdition is lost.
“And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” Here, at the conclusion of the Master's ministry on earth, He was talking about joy: “That they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” Does that mean that they have to go and be crucified? No. That was not the working of God's will. That was man violating the will of God. “I have given them thy word”—I have given them thy Shekinah—“and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world.” Well! Most of those who conceive themselves to be Christians are very much concerned about getting out of the world and into heaven where they will be safe from the devil. And the Master in His prayer which concluded His ministry on earth said, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” Thy Shekinah is Truth. “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” Now let us stop and look. You were sent into the world on exactly the same basis, the same laws, the same principles, as the Master was sent into the world.
“And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth”—through Shekinah. “Neither pray I for these alone.” The Master recognized that in all likelihood there would be those who would rise up and say, “Well now, He was just talking about His disciples, the twelve, and Judas was gone. But just these men were going to have power, not us down here. We cannot expect it. We are just poor, weak human beings. We cannot have the power of God. He was just talking about His twelve disciples having the power.” What does He say? “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.” I do not know how He could have made it any plainer, that everything He was saying in His prayer applied to any man or any woman, in any generation, of any color, regardless of background, socially or by creed or anything else. No limitations. It applies to you. His prayer applies to you just as much as it did to anyone, anywhere, at any time. “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory”—the Shekinah Glory—“which thou gavest me I have given them.”
Now where are those who have received the Glory? Look in the world. Either God did not give our Master very much Glory or else those who were supposed to receive it have not received it. “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them.” And it applies to us in this hour. When are we going to receive the Shekinah Glory? When we let it appear. “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” We must accept the fact that we are supposed to have Oneness with the Father on exactly the same basis that He had Oneness with the Father. And how was it? Through the Shekinah. It has been called different names, but human beings have forgotten what it means; they do not know. “That they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me.”
“I (Shekinah) in them, and thou (the One Who Dwells) in me (Shekinah), that through Shekinah we may all be one.” Not until you begin to understand the principles of Shekinah can you really understand the Master's use of language here. "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me (Shekinah), and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” In other words, that the Father loved them, you, in this hour, as, in exactly the same way, He loved our Lord when He was on earth. “As thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.” Not where I am going to be. “Where I am.” He was the manifestation of Deity on earth. He was the focalization of, the revelation of, Shekinah to the children of men, and He said, “I pray that they shall be with me where I am,” not where I am going to be. No. Where I am—the manifestation of the Power of God on earth.
“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory…” What Glory? Do they have to go to some far heaven to behold the Shekinah Glory? Certainly not. “… behold my glory which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name”—I have declared unto them thy Shekinah—“and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
The Shekinah Fire of Love in the manifestation of the Divine Pattern on earth. Here we have the words of the Master Himself, in His concluding prayer. If they be the words of Truth, the words of our Lord in fact, then let us give heed to them and stop being concerned with all the assumptions. Let us “soar to high neglect of what's denied or said, this way or that,” in Holy Writ on the basis of assumption, interpretation, belief, and all the rest. The Master said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”—free to live, to move and to have your being in the Shekinah of our God. And so shall you share the victory and do your part toward finishing the work which you came to do.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
from
The Holy Family
Uranda August 23, 1953 Class
I have here the record of certain words spoken by our Master when He was on earth, and according to the record, these are the words in the 11th chapter of Luke, beginning with the 11th verse: “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Is there any earthly father present who would give his son a stone if he asked for bread? a serpent if he asked for fish? or a scorpion if he asked for an egg? Certainly not. Not one among you, being a father, and I doubt if there is anyone here who would so function.
Our Master said, according to this record, “If ye then, being of limited vision, understanding and function, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more”—not just equally with this—“how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” And what a need there is for the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. We all know something of what it is to feel the working of that spirit of our God, but there is certainly a need for a greater baptism of the spirit than has yet been made manifest here, than you have yet shared or known. And our Master said, “How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.” The question then arises, have you asked Him? And another question follows: How do you ask Him? What do you ask? The Master expressed so many times, in so many ways, this idea of God's willingness to give. “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom”—not in some hereafter time but now. It is your Father's good pleasure. And if we would give God pleasure, we should receive that which He offers.
“How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” How should we ask Him? How better can we ask Him than to prepare to receive the Holy Spirit, to do those things we know to do, that we should do, that the Holy Spirit may properly manifest through us? If our children come to the table at dinnertime expecting food, we may, as parents, look at the child's hands and face and find that they need washing. But having washed them, we let them come back to the table, and they are ready to receive the food because they are reasonably clean. Well now, if this is so, and it is, how do we ask?
The compulsions of life are often very effective persuaders. The fact that a person gets hungry enough is a good persuader. And so it makes me ask this question of myself: “How hungry are these people here? How hungry are they for a greater baptism of the spirit? Are they going to stand afar off and say, ‘I would really like to know more of the outpouring of the spirit but...?” But what? If the table is prepared, then the way to ask, insofar as our Father is concerned, is primarily simply to come to the table, is it not? Not to start begging and asking for something that is already provided, demanding it in some other fashion. No, that would not be very courteous—it would not be honoring our Father or our Mother.
Your heavenly Father. In our meditations there came a point where you began to really recognize your heavenly Father and your heavenly Mother, and we recognized the deeper meaning of that commandment: “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” The mere fact of physical parenthood does not necessarily make a person worthy of honor. But our heavenly Father and our heavenly Mother are worthy of honor. There is no question on the point. And to what degree have you so lived that you honor your heavenly Father and your heavenly Mother?
It sometimes seems to you that the heavenly Father is far away, but He is not. We have recognized that your heavenly Father is a part of the Shekinah Pattern of Being, as likewise is your heavenly Mother. The Father, spoken of as your heavenly Father, may carry back to the point of the One Who Dwells, but that is, as far as we are concerned in this outer world, not of immediate importance. The presence of the One Who Dwells is revealed by the fact of the evidence of the Presence of heavenly Father and heavenly Mother. And you are the only begotten Son or Daughter of your heavenly Father and your heavenly Mother. For the reality of the Fire, the Fire of God's Love, is your heavenly Father, the focalization of the positive aspect of Being in the realm of that which is the vibrational sphere directly related to you as a human being. And the Light that glows, or the reality of Truth, is your heavenly Mother. The Life that manifests through your body, is the Life that is in you; and that Life that makes you a human being is born of your heavenly parents, your heavenly Father and your heavenly Mother. These are the Shekinah, or the One Who Dwells.
So who is it that is going to give you these gifts? Do you have to look to some invisible being? No, you do not. Your heavenly Father indicates the reality of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, yes. And the way the Master used the word Father, very often the One Who Dwells is definitely indicated—it carries back to the One Who Dwells. But, you remember, we saw that the word Father signifies primarily Shekinah, and wherever we find the word “Father” here, as the Master used it, it means Shekinah. And the centering of Shekinah as such is your heavenly Father, the Fire that burns eternally, the creative Fire.
The Master said, “How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Now where there is a true home, a true family pattern, and the child asks something of the father, that does not mean that the child is ignoring the mother; for the anticipation of the child is that father and mother will work together in Oneness, that if they agree on earth as touching something, it is useless to argue, it is useless to struggle, it is useless to do anything but just accept it, because that is the way it is. When father and mother agree, that is it—that is final. And so it is in the heavenly pattern of Being: when Father and Mother agree, that is it. And on what basis do Father and Mother agree? Are they arbitrary, just withholding some good thing from you? No, the table is prepared, the table of God's provision, and that includes the baptism, or the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, God's will for you.
And until that manifestation of the Holy Spirit is a reality in you, you have not let the Father's will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Where is heaven? It is at hand, it is right here. Where is the Father? Right here. The Father is with you wherever you are. Your heavenly Father is the reality of the focus point of the Shekinah of your God Being—and so likewise your heavenly Mother. And if you drive them out of the house of your body, life will cease to manifest in your body and you will no longer be a human being. What is left has to be buried. So it is your Father's good pleasure, and therefore also your Mother's good pleasure. Your Mother, your heavenly Mother, never is at odds with your heavenly Father. If it is your Father's good pleasure, your heavenly Mother has agreed on earth as touching these things; and by the very fact that they have agreed on earth, if you do your part and come to the table and accept and receive, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?
By your presence here you are asking. Yet did you ever see a little child come to the table, get seated, receive the food on the plate, and then proceed to play every sort of game, fiddle with it or ignore it, doing anything but eat? So sometimes children come to the table and get the food on their plate—they have gone that far—but they do not receive it into their mouths, into their bodies. That is our next step, isn't it? I would say you have come to the table, and I trust your hands are reasonably clean. “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?” What is His holy place? The place of the Holy Spirit. And the answer comes: “He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” That is the answer. So if you have clean hands there is no reason why you should not eat, and the food is on the table. But if your mind or your heart, your emotional realm, either or both, is preoccupied—with what? Those things that disrupt the connecting factors between spirit and your being on earth, in the realm of the Sea of Glass, the contact point with the pneumaplasm. Why do we talk about tranquility and serenity? Where do tranquility and serenity work? In the heart, primarily. They have manifestations of effect in the mind and in the body, but serenity is a matter of the heart. And if there be no serenity in the heart, there is preoccupation with something beside the art, the act, of really receiving into yourself that which God would give. The Master used symbolism here in describing the point, in relationship to food, and I have carried out that theme. We must receive it into ourselves for ourselves. But what is it that will prevent the lack of serenity?
We remember in the Book of Magic where mention is made of the Sea of Glass. The word is: “a sea of glass like unto crystal.” The Sea of Glass, clear as crystal—there is a picture of serenity: no flaw, no disturbing vibrational factors, quietude, serenity, the acceptance of the Divine Design, no pushing, no pulling, no demanding, no requiring this or that of the Father, a perfect willingness to receive as the Father gives, with complete trust that the Father's giving will be right not only for you but for all. And there needs to be no friction pattern to be sure that things work out correctly, no resentment necessary, no rebellious spirit lest God receive someone into the kingdom who is not in your estimation ready. Just to receive it for yourself.
To want it, to try to demand it and get it in some fashion? What should be our attitude? To start wanting the Holy Spirit all at once? That would not do any good. You shall not want. If you start demanding it, no. What is your attitude? From whence does the Holy Spirit come? From God. And it is the evidence of the Presence of God. For we find that the Shekinah of the Old Testament period is the Holy Spirit of the New Testament period; they are one and the same thing. That which is translated Holy Spirit in the New Testament must always be read Shekinah if you would understand it truly—or Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost? Yes, Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, Shekinah, because both Old and New Testaments are talking about exactly the same thing, not two different things. The Holy Spirit is Shekinah. So if we are to receive Shekinah, is it done by wanting? No, by a genuine willingness to share with God the release of that which is of God, which is the evidence of the Presence of God on earth. Your heavenly Father, as the Master uses the term, is the control point of Shekinah, the Head of the Shekinah Family, but it includes the Whole Family. If you receive the Holy Spirit, you receive the evidence of the Presence of this Holy Family in your House of Being, your body.
Your body, your flesh, all of the wonderful mechanisms of your body, were designed for a particularized manifestation of the Child of the Holy Family, the only begotten Son of your heavenly Father. But you must receive into your body, into their places, their mansions, their rooms, the reality of your heavenly Father and your heavenly Mother, or their Child will not abide in you in the reality of Life. The manifestation will diminish and become less and less, unless you receive your heavenly parents. And that means that the room of your body, your being as a human being, which was particularly designed by God for your heavenly Father, is your heart, your emotional nature—for your heavenly Father. And your mind is a capacity, as your heart is; it is a room in the body of your being, a place if you please, especially designed for your heavenly Mother, the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Love and the Spirit of Truth bring forth the Spirit of Life, and these three are the Holy Family, the Holy Spirit. And would you receive them? How? We must do it intelligently, with understanding: the Holy Spirit of Love in the heart, the Holy Spirit of Truth in the mind, and the Holy Spirit of Life in the body.
You cannot, just by some arbitrary means, cause this Holy Family to manifest in you; but it is your Father's good pleasure that they should manifest in you. You must let your body be prepared to receive the Child, the Holy Spirit of Life. You must let your mind be prepared to receive your Mother, so that you honor your Mother with your mind, never violate the Spirit of Truth, never discredit, never dishonor your Mother, your heavenly Mother. And so the Holy Spirit of Truth comes into your mind, and if you treat your Mother rightly she will remain there, always. And then your heart. In your heart, in your emotional nature, in your feeling attitudes, you must honor your heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit of Love. If you bring into your heart, your emotional nature, those spirits that dishonor your Father, do you think He will stay in your heart? No, He will begin to go out; and if He begins to go out, do you suppose He is going to leave His wife behind? No, He will take His wife with Him. You must honor your Father if your Mother is to stay. And if you dishonor your Mother, do you think your Father will stay? If you dishonor Her, your heavenly Father will depart also and take Her away.
Receiving the Holy Spirit is not something fantastic; it is not as if we have an emotional spree and imagine that we are getting the Holy Spirit. It is something that is done deliberately. How does a child eat if it begins to eat of that food that is set before it? There is a series of deliberate actions—dipping the food, getting it into the spoon, lifting it to the mouth, taking it into the mouth, taking the spoon out, chewing the food. And then spit it out? No. We had a whole series of deliberate actions but we missed one. He must deliberately swallow—not spit it out, not expectorate. He must deliberately swallow. I have had various groups who showed interest in receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, and various opportunities have been extended to these various groups in time past. But they came to the table, they came to the service, they sat in their chairs or in the places provided, and they sat. They listened to words that I spoke, but they sat. “Feed us, make us eat it if you can.” They kept the mouth clamped tightly shut, sat like bumps on a log and said, “Give it to us now.” And they went away without receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now you must admit those folks were not very wise, were they? They probably were far, far from here, probably someone else. That would not apply to you here, I am sure. So now, what is required of you? You have to deliberately do something. If your child will not eat, do you start prying its mouth open and shoving it in? And if it will not chew, do you just push it down its throat? No. You say, “Well if you get hungry enough, you'll eat.” And so you take the food away—and make him wait till the next meal, and probably he will not go into his little act. So I have been using that principle. If you did not really receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit at one time, well we would wait until you would begin to show hunger.
Now what kind of a Child of God are you going to be? Go into a little act of some kind? Or are you ready to deliberately do your part? If you think you are going to sit there and listen to me, and just sit like those other folks I told you about, it will not be tonight or tomorrow night or the next night. It will never come until you deliberately do your part. And remember, the child has to deliberately pick up the spoon, dip the food, deliberately lift it to his mouth, deliberately take the spoon out and leave the food in the mouth, deliberately chew it and then deliberately swallow it. And only then do the automatic processes take over. But unless you deliberately do something in the first part, you will never get to the point of the automatic processes. And if we are good children of God, real children of God, we are not going to object to deliberately doing our part without playing around and making too big a mess out of it.
What is it that you have to deliberately do? There is a whole series of things which you must deliberately do—a whole series—and they must be worked out carefully, prayerfully, correctly. One is, of course, coming to the table, responding to the Father, beginning to draw near. And you may say, “I have taken that step.” All right, well and good. Two, you must sit down at your place at the table. Have you come to rest in your place at the table? Have you, now? Or are you still looking for your place at the table? How do you find it? Are you looking at the colors of the different dishes and the way the table is set and so on, deciding, “Well I'd like this place or that place. I don't know which place I want”? Does it make so much difference to you which place? Or is it just enough to sit down at the Father's table, any place He gives you? Are you concerned about place and still trying to decide what place you want, how you want it, where it shall be, what recognition you shall have, where you shall sit in relationship to the Father or somebody else? “I don't want to sit by so-and-so; I want to sit by so-and-so!” How about that? Or are you so thankful for the opportunity to sit down at the Father's table that you are not concerned who is sitting at your right or your left, or who is across the table from you, or what the place is? When the Father says, “Sit here,” are you ready to take your place?—no arguments; just to take it. If you are, then you are ready for the next step. The food has to be passed, or the plate prepared for you; then you have to deliberately begin to eat it.
Now I have been working in the Spirit, in the current of your heavenly Mother, to prepare a table before you. Who prepares the table? Oh, it's our Father's table. It is your heavenly Father's table, is it not? But who cooks the meal? That is Mother's job, isn't it, generally? So, it is the heavenly Father's table, and He prepares it for you—but Mother cooked it and served it on the table. That is my sphere of function, actually. When our Lord was on earth He carried the pattern of Focalization for the Heavenly Father. My responsibilities on earth in Focalization relate to the Heavenly Mother. And I have been cooking the meals and serving them up on the table before you—the classes, and the services, etc. But now the food is served; the feast is prepared; you must eat it. How do you do it? You have to deliberately start receiving that food into the three parts of your body. You must deliberately start preparing your heart to receive the Holy Spirit of Love. And any spirit in your heart that does not belong there, do you get all upset and bothered and say, “Well I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to get it out of my system. I have to struggle with it,” or something? If you wish an outpouring of your heavenly Father's Holy Spirit you had better clean house. You say, “I can't”? Oh yes, you can! How important are these evil spirits to you?—or the unclean spirits, or whatever we should call them. The spirits of resentment—you say, “I can't help it”? Rebelliousness—“I can't help it”? Whatever it may be—“I can't help it” or “I'm justified” or something? Well, then the Father is justified in staying out, and He will. He can wait longer than you can; He can afford to wait. But if He does not come in, it will be too late. And when it is too late it is a sad thing—too late.
So how about deliberately taking the food and masticating? That is the deliberate action with respect to the food and the part. What part? The heart, the mind, and the body. Actually you do not have to pay too much attention to the body as such. Your body accepts whatever is imposed upon it. Your body as such has no choice. Your body as such is never to blame for anything. Your body as such must accept whatever is imposed upon it, right or wrong. Your body has no choice. So where does the choice rest? With the emotional realm and with the mind, with the Father and Mother. So we are not too concerned immediately about the body. It may need cleaning up before life can fully, vibrantly manifest; but that is a secondary matter. Our first concern is getting your mind ready for your heavenly Mother, and your heart ready for your heavenly Father, preparing the room for them in your body. And then they will come in, and something will automatically happen from there on out. It will. It will begin to automatically work out, and it will really happen. But you have to deliberately do something.
You have to deliberately be concerned about your mind as your Holy Mother's bedroom, and your heart as your Holy Father's bedroom. And they have a connecting door. They have a connecting door—do not try to close it, do not try to lock it. But there is the room for your Holy Father, your heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit of Love; and there is the room for your Holy Mother, your heavenly Mother, the Holy Spirit of Truth. Have you welcomed them in, deliberately? Have you made the place ready? Have you watched to see to it that things that do not belong do not get in? You cannot keep them out? Of course you can. That is just self-delusion if you say you cannot. You can. Yes you can! Don't tell me you cannot. It is just a lie. I don't care what arguments you put up, it is still not true. You can. Have you prepared to receive your Holy Father? Have you prepared to receive your Holy Mother? Have you prepared to receive their Holy Child? This is the Holy Family, ready to go down into Egypt, into the darkness of your own being, your body, regardless of its limitations, if you will really receive them. But they will come up out of Egypt, out of that darkness, and you will come up with them and be the Promised Land for them, you the human being.
The Holy Family. Did you ever think how you would have liked to have dwelt along the route that led to Egypt in the long ago? Had you ever thought how nice it would have been to have lived along that route somewhere and to have seen the Holy Family coming along the road and had the pleasure of saying, “Won't you come in? Won't you come into my home? It's humble perhaps, but won't you come into my house and rest awhile and eat? I would love to have the Holy Family in my house.” What do you think that story is telling, the story of the birth of Jesus? It is not a true picture of His birth as a human child. Why is it the way it is? It is not a true picture of the Master's birth as a baby at all, but it is a true picture of something that works out in life. The Holy Father and the Holy Mother, and the Holy Babe. You can welcome them into your house. Would that be a pleasure? a joy? a satisfaction? It can be done in you if you will prepare for it and let it be so. But you must deliberately do your part, otherwise the Holy Family will go right on by down the road, perhaps to sleep somewhere else. But you, each and every one, individually, you can receive the Holy Family; and when you have done so, you have received the Holy Spirit. And manifesting in you, that Holy Family will be in you the revelation of Shekinah, the reality of God made manifest in you and through you. How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to you when you ask Him.
© emissaries of divine light
The Ever-Flowing Lifestream
Martin Cecil September 29, 1974
It's good to be together in this chapel this evening, providing us with the opportunity of serving in this moment. We are here to do this of course. This is an essential aspect of living. We may begin to participate in these moments in the expression of the truth which should be born in these moments. Only as we do participate in this process may we know the Truth. In recalling the statement of our Master's words, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,” we remember that the beginning of that statement established a requirement—“If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
To know the Truth we must continue in what was referred to here as His Word. A great many people have been inclined to think that this simply meant the record of the words which Jesus spoke, the record that came down to us presumably in the Gospels. His Word, or the Word of God, is sometimes thought of as being the Bible. But anything that is recorded in that book is obviously in the past; the Truth can only be known in the present. It is only known because it finds release and expression through those who know it. So it isn't a matter of recalling words out of the past, whether those words were the words of Jesus or anybody else, if we are to know the Truth in this moment. Recalling some words which were the Truth insofar as the ones who spoke them were concerned when they were spoken, we may be reminded of what is required of us now. But let us not ever imagine that the Truth can be known by bringing forward something out of the past. This is something that must be born in the moment. We are here now to let something be born now, in this moment, or these moments, as each one becomes the present in its turn. This obviously would then be fresh and new—not a revived corpse, so to speak, out of the past. Those are sometimes called zombies. There are many believers in zombies. Here again, we need to recognize clearly that a belief about the Truth absolutely prevents a person from knowing the Truth. Beliefs perhaps may be useful in pointing a person in the right direction, but sooner or later he's got to relinquish his beliefs if he is to give birth to the Truth, the Truth of the moment. Giving birth to this Truth in the moment, we know it. We don't have to believe anything.
Now I think you realize there have been many beliefs present in your own experience, and no doubt you have been relinquishing some of them. It's interesting to observe that many of the Christian churches have creeds, where the members of the church are required to accept this statement of belief. Little do they realize that as long as they insist upon accepting the statement of belief they absolutely preclude the possibility of knowing the Truth. We can see that very easily, can't we, with respect to those church members out there. But how about your beliefs, for instance? It's the same thing, you know; no real difference. A model is never the real thing. The real thing is living, and is born in the moment.
This relates to Cause, of which many people have an awareness. There must be one; something's moving. We have seen the necessity of moving with that something. And the way we move with it is to participate in letting it be born in our own experience—then we're with it. If we are merely looking for it to be born through somebody else then we're apart from it, we're not with it, we are not moving with it. Obviously, if we have a setting such as this, I have a responsibility to permit something to be born in my own expression. But whatever it is that is so born should be an inspiration or a moving element in your own experience; in other words something is born through you at the same time as it's being born through me. The words that I speak are only a part of what it is that is being born. It's likely that whatever is being born through you as individuals will not exactly coincide with what is being born through anyone else in the room. There is something particular and peculiar and unique which rightly is born through each person. When this is so and we move together in what has been called the Current of the Spirit, then we are with what is moving; we are serving in this fashion and we are participating in the manifest expression of the Cause which engenders the effects that we see round about on the basis of human response or reaction to what is moving. Most people don't realize what it is that's moving. Perhaps from what I am saying now, and from your own experience, you have a certain awareness of what it is that is moving.
We speak of the Current of the Spirit, or the Spirit of God, as a means of pointing to something which in different terms may be referred to as Shekinah perhaps, or the Christ, or the Lamb, or the Tone—something which is moving. Now, it's moving everywhere, not just geographically here. It's moving in relationship to all people. It's moving by reason of Life. It is Life, wherever Life is being born in the moment. We recognize many living forms on earth, but we also realize, I'm sure, that these forms which we speak of as living are not in fact the only living forms. There is no form in the whole universe that is not living. There are different levels of Life and the expression of Life, but it's all Life. Life is present everywhere. It's interesting that a stone was used as an example to portray something about which we were speaking this morning—a stone cut out without hands. Most people look at a stone and say, “What could be more dead than that?” But actually it's living substance, part of the body of the universe—certainly a part of the body of this planet. This planet is part of the body of the universe. So Life is everywhere and moving everywhere. Another way of describing this is to refer to what is happening as the pulsation or the flow of the Lifestream, or the bloodstream; in our own experience properly we might say the blood of the Lamb, the Lamb having particular reference to spiritual expression. We are concerned with spiritual expression, with letting the Spirit express. This same Lifestream could be referred to as the Christ or Shekinah, relating to the dominance of certain other levels of being—mental and physical in these cases. Then we've also mentioned the Tone, using another word. It's all one thing, but we may lay emphasis on certain aspects of that one thing. And the Tone of course has a particular relationship to the pure heart, something clear sounding.
And so there is the bloodstream present, and we may see this applying especially to the body of mankind. There is a certain range of Life manifesting through human beings. That range is wider or larger than the range manifesting through anything else here on this planet. Lesser ranges manifest through the animal kingdom or the kingdom of vegetation, the mineral kingdom; but it's all this same bloodstream, and it's moving everywhere. When we think of our own physical bodies we say the heart is a muscle which pumps the blood through the body—this is one way of looking at it at least. Now, it's a very efficient pump, if that's what it is, because it keeps a constant flow. It doesn't just spurt out a package of blood while the various parts of the body are waiting for the package to arrive, and then after it's passed and returns from whence it came they're left high and dry. That's not the case. There's a constant flow.
And this is a very good illustration of what is happening in this matter of the Lifestream of God, the blood of the Lamb, or however it might be put. There's a constant flow everywhere; all are related to this flow. Not all have an awareness of it. You are beginning to have an awareness of the reality of it. It is this flow, and our consciousness of the reality of it, that begins to put us together, begins to make us aware of being part of One Body, that we're not just isolated individuals who somehow or other are going to let a little piece of Truth be born where one happens to be, quite regardless of what's going on anywhere else; it isn't so. Whatever is born, actually born, through an individual is closely related to what is being born, actually being born, through others. We're not separate in this sense. There is consequently a sense of unification, because of the experience of the birth of Truth in one's own expression in the moment. The birth of Truth in one's own expression in the moment doesn't segregate one from everybody else: “Well now I'm a sage and Truth is being born through me. I'm illuminated, and where's everybody else?” No, it's the same thing that's moving through everyone, but everyone is not letting it be born adequately or accurately into expression. To the extent that we begin to be an adequate means for this birth then we begin to become aware of other adequate means of this birth, and we begin to find ourselves associated in this way. And the association takes place quite without our choice in the matter. We're not going to pick and choose with respect to those through whom the Truth is going to be born. It either is or it isn't, in an adequate sense, being born through a person. Those through whom it is being born we find a relatedness to: we become conscious of a relatedness that already exists because of what is being born.
So we don't choose each other. We find that we are chosen. This is perhaps the basis of what has been called “the chosen people.” The people are chosen by reason of what is being born through all concerned. As one becomes aware of that, one finds one is part of the Whole, associated with others whether one likes it or not. Some have rebelled against this and objected to this one or that one, but we'd better learn to like it or lump it. We find that it is likable as it proceeds. In the initial stages the birth is perhaps not too adequate yet, and therefore there are frictions which arise, but as the fuller experience comes all this gets smoothed out, ironed out. We find that those people with whom we are associated are not so bad after all. Because of this we don't judge; we stop judging others. We move out of the condition of iron and clay.
Now here is the Truth being born in the moment. It is particular and specific in relationship to each one, but it's not unrelated to what is being born through others. It is not the same thing as is being born through others. We don't want any repetition. It's unique to the individual, but it all fits together because it's all the Truth; and on this basis we begin to know the Truth. Of course we can't let this happen if we are carrying forward our beliefs. Now the Truth that is being born in any given moment at this point is not yet adequate; it's a partial Truth as yet. When it is born through you, you may say, “Now I see. Isn't that great? Now I really see!” Well you see something more than you saw before, and that is greater than you saw before. So it's the greatest thing so far; but don't take it as though it was the last word, because whatever it is that is being born now is not yet the adequate expression of Truth. We speak of highest vision. Well that's as high as we see at the moment, as high as we understand at the moment, as high as we express at the moment. But there's more to come.
What is born in one moment being seen as something marvelous and great because it is so much more than was true of the past moment, there is the inclination then to establish a belief. You believe that this is now the Truth, and then you carry this belief forward with you and it stands as an absolute barrier, as long as you hold that belief, to what is to be born through you in the next moment, and the next, and the next. This is a tendency, a human tendency, because it has been so customary. Most of the processes of what is called education in the world are designed to establish these patterns of belief and concept and idea. But we may have a whole houseful of this stuff, and think we are wise because we have so much, and yet not know the Truth at all, because the Truth is born in the moment. Every belief that a person has stands as a block to that birth, because the individual is assuming that he knows what the Truth is and therefore what should be born in the moment. But what things should be born in the moment “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man” yet. It only does so as it is born. In this way we begin to establish association with the flow of the Lifestream; in other words we begin to live. It is the flow of the Lifestream present in all parts of the body that maintains Life in our individual physical bodies. And so likewise is it in the larger body of mankind, or any aspect of the total body of the universe which we might consider. There is a flow, and we need to be present with that flow if we are to participate in the birth of the Truth through us in the moment.
Now, part of this as it relates to our own present experience is seen, or may be seen, with respect to a service—for instance such as we share in this moment. Here something is being brought to focus of this Lifestream, but not only here. If it is the Lifestream and Truth is being born here, it's everyplace else as well. No one is segregated from it until they're dead. I have spoken of the mailings for instance, and tapes and services and so on, as relating to this Lifestream. There's an outer form of something. “Well,” you say, “whatever service comes as a mailing, that's out of the past, isn't it?” Yes, it's out of the past, but you who are reading it are in the present. And what you are reading can provide the inspiration, or the trigger, however you would put it, to permit the Truth to be born through you in the moment. And from your own experience you know this to be true, because you could read a service and ... well it's beautiful; something fresh is seen. Then you read it a couple of weeks later and it's something entirely new. It's not because what was written on the page had changed, but because you had changed, because something new was being born through you.
There are many many people who could read these words and they would mean absolutely nothing to them at all. Many people have read the Bible for instance, being assured by others that there was something there, but the words have meant absolutely nothing to them. However, you have found, particularly those who've had the opportunity of sharing in Grace's class, that the Bible comes alive. But what is it that really comes alive? You do! The Bible is the same Bible, no different at all, but something is born through the person who reads it. And it is this in-the-moment birth that is the basis for association with the flow of the Lifestream. What is being expressed in a focalized sense through the services which we share, you and others, brings to point something of the flow of the Lifestream that is transpiring in the present moment; it's fresh and fairly up-to-date, if we keep it that way. But what allows for the real experience is what is born through the person who moves with that and lets something appear in his own expression of Life.
So what appears through the mailings, for instance, is of vital importance in this regard, because it allows for a new birth in the individual who considers it—not only considers it from the standpoint of reading something but considers it from the standpoint of living something. In other words whenever you read a mailing it should enlighten you with respect to your own experience in living. How does it apply in relationship to your own experience? And there is the essential quality, then, of keeping up-to-date. We must be up-to-date if we are to be with it. We are up-to-date when the Truth of the moment is being born through us in the moment. And this provision of mailings at this time is most useful to assist in the development of the ability to allow the Truth to be born in the moment; not only in the moment when you're reading a mailing but in every moment of living, because then we begin to have the stone cut out without hands. It is not being formed by human effort. It's being formed by the fact that the Truth is being born, by the fact that there are those who begin to know the Truth and are consequently free to express Life as it really is. And it is this irresistible force, this power, which is the Cause relating to all that is unfolding in a specific sense right here on earth. There are many other things unfolding in many other parts of the universe, and it's all related, but there is something specific happening here and we have a particular responsibility with respect to this specific happening.
“If ye continue in my word.” It isn't as though Jesus spoke some words nineteen centuries ago when He was on earth and then quit. He said before He left, “I have yet many things to say unto you.” There are many many words yet to be spoken in this sense. In other words this Stream is an ever-flowing Stream, but the only connection we have with it is in the present moment. We don't have a connection with it in the past; we're here. So this we experience now if we experience it at all. “If ye continue in my word…” Continue, continue, continue. The Word continues, and unless we can somehow connect up with it in the present moment, we don't know what that Word is. We may have some ideas about something that happened in the past, but what's happening now? Most people are entirely at sea in that regard. They think they know something about what happened in the past and they have expectations for the future, but they haven't the faintest, foggiest notion as to what's happening now. The only thing that has any meaning is what is happening now. What is it that is being born into our expression in the moment? Not necessarily a spoken word. There are times when it's right to speak. Presumably this is a moment when it's right for me to speak, but I think if you observe me you don't see me going around talking all the time. There are times for silence, but that doesn't mean something can't be born through you at those times. When something stops being born through you you're dead.
So there is a constant flow rightly, and we begin to know it when we're with it. And we're with it when it's being born in our own experience. Then we participate in this causative element which is very particularly working in the consciousness of mankind. This is our field of service. This is our area of responsibility. What works out in the consciousness of mankind will be reflected beyond mankind in relationship to everything in the further environment. We are concerned with letting the consciousness of mankind change. And how is it going to change? Because we impose something on somebody else? No, because we let it change in us. We're part of mankind. If it changes in us, the consciousness of mankind has changed to that extent. In fact if it changes, in the sense of the birth of Truth in one's own experience, there is the irresistible force related to everybody else, and something's going to continue to happen because we continue in the Word of the moment and consequently know the Truth which should find expression in the moment. You don't have to doctor up that Truth which is to find expression in the moment in such a way that it conforms with your beliefs that you've been dragging forward out of the past.
There are many beliefs that need to pass away—they don't belong. They may relate to something that was born back there, that was fine back there in that moment. But in actual fact, whatever is born in the moment should pass away in the moment because there's something coming in the next moment, and we don't want to block it. And we do discover that there is indeed a pulsing flow of the bloodstream. There is a pulsation. It isn't just a squirt, so to speak, an indefinite squirt. There are beautiful variations. Allowing the Truth to be born one could never be bored. If at any time you find yourself bored you may know why. Because the Truth is simply not being born through you in that moment. You're expecting to be entertained in some way by what's happening in your environment. And this is a very strong influence in human lives, isn't it? They always want to be entertained. Do you want me to entertain you? Let's entertain the Lord, because we give expression to the Truth together; and that's very entertaining, because it's so new and fresh and something unexpected is appearing constantly. It's an adventure, and we don't need to be entertained anymore. We become the entertainer.
It's all one thing. The bloodstream is everywhere. Life is consequently everywhere, and as the Truth is born through us we live, we live in that new expression of Life—the Life that is eternal. If we're on hand to let it be born through us we have an association then with Eternal Life; we participate in that movement. We share in the creative working, the creative pulsations, and we begin to become aware of what is happening to what is next to us. We see the significance of this as extending to something beyond, because it's all one thing. And as we handle the things that are ours to deal with in the moment we are handling and dealing with far more, if our handling is on the basis of the Truth being born in the moment. Then all things are being made new. We see what is transpiring in the world as being part of the unfoldment of Divine Purpose. We have a certain awareness of the immediate Divine Purpose, which is the restoration of man, the facility through which the Divine Purpose may be allowed to find expression on earth. Being restored this can then happen, but in the meantime there is the necessity to be restored.
So we let the bloodstream flow again through this body of mankind that has so long been existing in a coma in the tomb. Blood begins to flow again and Life to come into all parts, that it may be restored. We have a responsibility, because we become aware of it. In our consideration this evening that awareness has been emphasized in this particular way, and something has been born through each one on this basis. If you think you've seen something new or sensed something new, wonderful! Let it go and let's let it continue to be born naturally in the moment, to the Glory of God and the blessing of the children of men. Something has been brought to very specific point here through you. Because of this you're the ones who have the focus of responsibility for what is moving. It's how you behave, what you do with it, that matters. You either allow the Stream of Life to intensify and flow more fully or you let it drain away, you spill the blood. Spilled blood doesn't do any good. It needs to remain and flow through the channels which are prepared for its flow, and those include you. And so it is. We're all together, and we know it. What a blessing, and what a blessing to be offered to all who will receive it.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
